Feed & Additive Magazine Issue 4 May 2021

ARTICLE FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE May 2021 61 * Transportation conditions and processing of commodities Multiple mycotoxins can be present in the same feed or feed ingredient. They can interact in an ad- ditive and/or synergistic manner – potentially caus- ing a larger response than expected. Mycotoxins in feed ingredients can hamper animal health and production and migrate into animal products like meat, milk, and eggs, potentially affecting humans, which supports the need for steps to ensure feed is safe. Trouw Nutrition’s mycotoxin risk management program runs thousands of rapid mycotoxin tests on ingredients and feeds to generate a global database, which not only helps in providing customized results for customers, but also assists the global audience on the trends of potential mycotoxin risk in the coming year for various animal species. DIFFERENTIATING MYCOTOXIN CONTAMINATION AND CONCENTRATION IS CRUCIAL When interpreting mycotoxin analysis results, it is important to distinguish between the extent to which samples are contaminated with mycotoxins (expressed as %) and the concentration of mycotox- ins (ppb or ppm). Any values that are equal to and above LOD (limit of detection) will be considered for % mycotoxin contamination analysis. For the determination of average mycotoxin concentrations, however, any values that are equal to and above LOQ (limit of quantification) are considered. The % my- cotoxin contamination indicates how many samples out of 100 are contaminated with mycotoxins, but doesn’t provide any information on how such sam- ples can be toxic to animals. For example, 100% of the samples may be contaminated with a specific mycotoxin, but all samples can be safe to feed to an- imals. On the other hand, mycotoxin concentration indicates the amount of a specific mycotoxin found in one kg of a commodity and such measures can be used to assess at what concentrations of mycotoxins animals can be susceptible to mycotoxicosis. COMPARING MYCOTOXIN LEVELS IN 2020 WITH 2019 Testing for mycotoxin levels in feeds and feed in- gredients increased from 2019 to 2020, with 38,858 analyses being completed in 2020 across 35 coun- tries. Many samples, about 51.6%, came from coun- tries in Europe, followed by 18.4% from North America then South America, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia. The items tested included feeds, grains, grain by-products, protein sources, and silag- es. The percentage contamination dropped slightly between the years, with 88% of samples indicating at least one mycotoxin in 2019 and 84% being positive last year. The sample found with the highest concen- tration was a commodity from Brazil; it was found to have 32,400ppb of FUM.